Printer

Abstract

A printer of the present invention includes a print drum around which a master made by cutting a stencil is to be wrapped, an ink feeding device for feeding ink to the master wrapped around the print drum and a pressing member for pressing a sheet relatively to the print drum to thereby print an image on the sheet. The operator of the printer is capable of selecting either one of a usual print mode and a silence print mode that give priority to image quality and noise reduction, respectively.

1. A printer, comprising:
 a print drum configured to wrap a master produced from a stencil therearound; 
 ink feeding means for feeding ink to the master wrapped around said print drum; 
 pressing means for pressing a sheet relatively to said print drum to thereby print an image on said sheet; 
 a controller configured to implement at least one of a usual print mode giving priority to image quality and a silence print mode giving priority to noise reduction, the usual print mode and the silence print mode both having a pressing force, an air volume, and a print speed associated therewith; 
 pressure control means for driving a press motor in accordance with a signal output from said controller to cause a spring to selectively extend and contract to vary a pressure force of said pressing means acting on said print drum; and 
 a unit including at least one fan and blowing/peeling means for regulating a stream of air sent from said at least one fan, wherein 
 said controller operates said press motor in such a manner as to provide said pressing means with a standard pressing force assigned to said usual print mode and to provide said pressing means with a reduced pressing force assigned to said silence print mode, said blowing/peeling means controls a rotation speed of said at least one fan such that a standard volume of air is sent from said at least one fan when the usual print mode is selected, and a lower standard volume of air is sent from at least one fan when the silence print mode is selected. 
 
   
   
     2. The printer as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein said blowing/peeling means peels off the sheet printed from said print drum with air, wherein when an amount of image represented by amount-of-image information input is smaller than a preselected reference value, at least one of the pressing force of said pressing means, an upper limit of a print speed and a volume of air to be sent from said blowing/peeling means in the silence print mode is corrected to a lower side. 
   
   
     3. The printer as claimed in  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a sheet select key for inputting kind-of-sheet information representative of a desired kind of sheet, wherein the controller is further configured to reduce noise during printing by correcting to a lower side at least one of the pressing force of said pressing means, an upper limit of a print speed, and a volume of air to be sent from said blowing/peeling means in the silence print mode when said kind-of-sheet information is different from a preselected reference value, wherein 
 the blowing/peeling means peels off the sheet printed from said print drum with air. 
 
   
   
     4. The printer as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein in the silence print mode an upper limit of the print speed is varied to a lower side. 
   
   
     5. The printer as claimed in  claim 4 , wherein said blowing/peeling means peels off the sheet printed from said print drum with air, wherein when an amount of image represented by amount-of-image information input is smaller than a preselected reference value, at least one of the pressing force of said pressing means, the upper limit of the print speed and a volume of air to be sent from said blowing/peeling means in the silence print mode is corrected to a lower side. 
   
   
     6. The printer as claimed in  claim 4 , wherein said blowing/peeling means peels off the sheet printed from said print drum with air, wherein when a kind of a sheet represented by kind-of-sheet information input is different from a preselected reference value, at least one of the pressing force of said pressing means, an upper limit of a print speed and a volume of air to be sent from said blowing/peeling means in the silence print mode is corrected to a lower side. 
   
   
     7. The printer as claimed in  claim 1 , further comprising:
 image quality estimating means for estimating an occurrence of blur of an image in accordance with at least one of kind-of-sheet information, amount-of-image information and environment information; and 
 alarming means for alerting, an operator of the printer when said image quality estimating means determines that blur of an image is likely to occur in the silence print mode. 
 
   
   
     8. A printer, comprising:
 a print drum configured to wrap a master produced from a stencil therearound; 
 an ink feeding device configured to feed ink to the master wrapped around said print drum; 
 a pressing member configured to press a sheet relatively to said print drum to thereby print an image on said sheet; and 
 a controller configured to implement at least one of a usual print mode giving priority to image quality and a silence print mode giving priority to noise reduction, the usual print mode and the silence print mode both having a pressing force, an air volume, and a print speed associated therewith; 
 a pressure control device configured to drive a press motor in accordance with a signal output from said controller to cause a spring to selectively extend and contract to vary a pressure force of said pressing member acting on said print drum; and 
 a unit including at least one fan and blowing/peeling device configured to regulate a stream of air sent from said at least one fan, wherein 
 said controller operates said press motor in such a manner as to provide said pressing member with a standard pressing force assigned to said usual print mode and to provide said pressing means with a reduced pressing force assigned to said silence print mode said blowing/peeling device is configured to control a rotation speed of said at least one fan such that a standard volume of air is sent from said at least one fan when the usual print mode is selected, and a lower standard volume of air is sent from at least one fan when the silence print mode is selected. 
 
   
   
     9. The printer as claimed in  claim 8 , wherein said a blowing/peeling device is configured to peel off the sheet printed from said print drum with air, wherein when an amount of image represented by amount-of-image information input is smaller than a preselected reference value, at least one of the pressing force of said pressing member, an upper limit of a print speed and a volume of air to be sent from said blowing/peeling device in the silence print mode is corrected to a lower side. 
   
   
     10. The printer as claimed in  claim 8 , further comprising:
 a sheet select key for inputting kind-of-sheet information representative of a desired kind of sheet, wherein the controller is further configured to reduce noise during printing by correcting to a lower side at least one of the pressing force of said pressing member, an upper limit of a print speed, and a volume of air to be sent from said blowing/peeling device in the silence print mode when said kind-of-sheet information is different from a preselected reference value, wherein 
 the blowing/peeling device is configured to peel off the sheet printed from said print drum with air. 
 
   
   
     11. The printer as claimed in  claim 8 , wherein in the silence print mode an upper limit of a print speed is varied to a lower side. 
   
   
     12. The printer as claimed in  claim 11 , wherein said blowing/peeling device is configured to peel off the sheet printed from said print drum with air, wherein when an amount of image represented by amount-of-image information input is smaller than a preselected reference value, at least one of the pressing force of said pressing member, the upper limit of the print speed and a volume of air to be sent from said blowing/peeling device in the silence print mode is corrected to a lower side. 
   
   
     13. The printer as claimed in  claim 11 , wherein said blowing/peeling device is configured peel off the sheet printed from said print drum with air, wherein when a kind of a sheet represented by kind-of-sheet information input is different from a preselected reference value, at least one of the pressing force of said pressing means, an upper limit of a print speed and a volume of air to be sent from said blowing/peeling device in the silence print mode is corrected to a lower side. 
   
   
     14. The printer as claimed in  claim 8 , further comprising:
 an image quality estimating device configured to estimate an occurrence of blur of an image in accordance with at least one of kind-of-sheet information, amount-of-image information and environment information; and 
 an alarming device configured to alert, an operator of the printer when said image quality estimating device determines that blur of an image is likely to occur in the silence print mode.